1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to gas control valves and systems, and more particularly to a gas control valve that has magnetic control function and is structurally compact, and a gas ignition system having the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Examples of the existing gas switches include U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,585 A titled “Combination of a piezoelectric igniter and a safety valve for a gas range” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,025 B1 titled “Gas volume control device for gas burners”, both of which use a structural component such as a piezoelectric igniter or a firing pin to perform impact and thereby generate sparks that ignite gas. However, such a mechanism has its problems relating to wearing, noise and loosening. In addition, these known gas switches tend to get degraded by oil sludge accumulated thereon over time.
On the other hand, U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,622 B1 titled “Stove ignition structure” discloses a structure where a magnetic switch is additionally provided in a stove and connected to an igniter, and a magnetic member is provided on the knob of the gas control valve. Thereby, when the knob is rotated, the magnetic member thereon makes the magnetic switch to form a closed circuit that makes the igniter sparkle. However, since the magnetic switch and the magnetic member are disposed separately on the stove, the non-modularized structure of the gas control valve is relatively loose and takes a relatively large space. Also such a complicated structure is unfavorable to product maintenance and repair. Thus, the prior-art devices need to be improved.